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River sand samples have been collected from Ponnai river, Tamil Nadu, India for characterization of minerals and heavy metals by different spectroscopic techniques. Initially, the samples were subjected by Fourier Transform-Infra Red (FT-IR) spectroscopic technique and infra-red absorption bands values are observed in the range of 515–520, 695–700, 775–780 cm−1 which shows the presence of quartz in all the samples. Similarly, infra-red peaks were absorbed for feldspar, kaolinite, calcite, gibbsite and organic carbon and confirmed by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Additionally, zircon, aragonite, magnetite and kyanite minerals were identified in the samples using only the XRD method. The concentration of heavy metals such as Pb, Cr, Zn, Ni, Hg, As, Mn, Cu has been determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). An average metal concentration measured in mg kg−1 were: Pb 0.12, As 0.15, Hg 0.13, Cu 2.80, Zn 10.15 Cr 12.70, Ni 2.86 and Mn 104.94 and hence found in the order of Mn > Cr > Zn > Ni > Cu > As > Hg > Pb. These average values do not exceed the world average value and hence potentially do not affect the quality of sand in the river. In addition to that, presences of heavy metals are confirmed by scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDS) analysis. In order to understand the possible natural and anthropogenic sources of heavy metals, multivariate statistical techniques such as Pearson correlation, principal component and cluster analysis were performed. Results obtained from the statistical techniques were good agreement with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]